This post is for the brave ones

I wait for 10 people to go through the door at the store before he’ll stop holding it.

When his sisters gets hurt, I don’t have time figure out what hurts before he’s returned from getting an icepack and bandaids.

He relishes every moment of saving us from the terror of a spider.

But just like any kid, he has his “less heroic moments.” So, I ask him “the superhero question”:

Me: Right now, are you acting like a hero or a villain to your sister?

Him: (sigh) villain.

Me: What do you want to be?

Him: Hero!

Me: Being a hero starts now, ok?

Him: Yes, ma’am.

Being a hero starts now. Being brave starts now. Being kind starts now. Being what you dream, starts now.

The road to someday starts today.

What about you? What do you want to be? What do you want to do?

Maybe you don’t want to be a superhero, but you wish you were a little more fit like one.

It starts now.

Maybe life is crazy right now with little ones, little sleep and little money. You dream of peace and simplicity.

It starts now.

Maybe you want to be a writer. Someday, when there isn’t so much laundry to do, food to cook and or schedules to manage.

It starts now.

Maybe you want your home to be organized. Later, when there aren’t so many kids undoing everything you do.

It starts now.

I challenge you, no…I double dog dare you, to think of one way to act on your dream now. Today. As soon as you finish reading these words.

It doesn’t need to be fancy. In fact, I challenge you to make it ridiculously simple, but let it be incredibly symbolic.

When I was nine months pregnant I decided I wanted to run a half marathon. I couldn’t run to the bathroom much less a mile, but I decided right then to start training. So I did. I got up off the couch and got my own ice cream instead of asking my husband to get it.

Ridiculous, yes. But it was symbolic. Symbolic of the fact that doing something big always starts small. Just start now.

I may have started that half marathon nine months pregnant on the way to the freezer, but I crossed the finish line just over one year later on my son’s first birthday.

You don’t need to wait for the stars to align.

You don’t need to wait for permission. You don’t need to wait until it seems realistic. You don’t need to wait for a mentor to show you how. You don’t need to wait until you can do something big.

Being a hero to yourself, your husband, your kids, your family, your friends or the people that follow – being a hero starts now.

So what are you going to do? Do something today. Make it simple. Make it symbolic. Inspire us and tell us about it in the comments.

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I wait for 10 people to go through the door at the store before he’ll stop holding it.

When his sisters gets hurt, I don’t have time figure out what hurts before he’s returned from getting an icepack and bandaids.

He relishes every moment of saving us from the terror of a spider.

But just like any kid, he has his “less heroic moments.” So, I ask him “the superhero question”:

Me: Right now, are you acting like a hero or a villain to your sister?

Him: (sigh) villain.

Me: What do you want to be?

Him: Hero!

Me: Being a hero starts now, ok?

Him: Yes, ma’am.

Being a hero starts now. Being brave starts now. Being kind starts now. Being what you dream, starts now.

The road to someday starts today.

What about you? What do you want to be? What do you want to do?

Maybe you don’t want to be a superhero, but you wish you were a little more fit like one.

It starts now.

Maybe life is crazy right now with little ones, little sleep and little money. You dream of peace and simplicity.

It starts now.

Maybe you want to be a writer. Someday, when there isn’t so much laundry to do, food to cook and or schedules to manage.

It starts now.

Maybe you want your home to be organized. Later, when there aren’t so many kids undoing everything you do.

It starts now.

I challenge you, no…I double dog dare you, to think of one way to act on your dream now. Today. As soon as you finish reading these words.

It doesn’t need to be fancy. In fact, I challenge you to make it ridiculously simple, but let it be incredibly symbolic.

When I was nine months pregnant I decided I wanted to run a half marathon. I couldn’t run to the bathroom much less a mile, but I decided right then to start training. So I did. I got up off the couch and got my own ice cream instead of asking my husband to get it.

Ridiculous, yes. But it was symbolic. Symbolic of the fact that doing something big always starts small. Just start now.

I may have started that half marathon nine months pregnant on the way to the freezer, but I crossed the finish line just over one year later on my son’s first birthday.

You don’t need to wait for the stars to align.

You don’t need to wait for permission. You don’t need to wait until it seems realistic. You don’t need to wait for a mentor to show you how. You don’t need to wait until you can do something big.

Being a hero to yourself, your husband, your kids, your family, your friends or the people that follow – being a hero starts now.

So what are you going to do? Do something today. Make it simple. Make it symbolic. Inspire us and tell us about it in the comments.

Jenn,
Yes, the hero question has been super useful for us. I love how it doesn’t leave room for excuses. It just makes him own up to his actions and make better choices. Hope it works as well for your family!

Such and inspiring post. So true. Life is won in little steps. I started my own journey to a full marathon with walking, then running a mile, then another and so on and so on until I reached 26.2 miles on race day. My current snail pacing step by step challenge. Getting the clutter in our home under control and giving everything a place. I might only get a few minutes each week to work on it but slowly it is getting done.

I needed this. I so needed this.
Tomorrow I am on my way to celebrate a friend’s book launch. I wanna do that someday too.
Caring for an ailing parent, two energetic boys and a husband who works 60+ hours a week (but still finds time to do the laundry) all while working full time at a job I love takes all the get up and go and makes it gone up and went.
However, little steps. Baby steps. Bird by bird (from Anne LaMott’s penultimate book on writing) I WILL GET ‘ER DONE.

There are a lot of things I don’t do well, but living brave (as far as chasing dreams go) is one I’ve been blessed enough to accomplish. It took me twelve years of hard work and hundreds of rejections to sell my first book, two more years to see it on shelves, but as a classmate at my twentieth reunion told me, I’m living the dream. And now three more books will join my first sometime in the next few years.

The path isn’t easy and doesn’t really get easier even once you “arrive” (which never really happens, does it?). But it is so incredibly satisfying to think I yearned for this and fought for this for so long. What a gift to be able to claim this life as mine.

I love your reminder to stop waiting until conditions are perfect! For writing, I’m going to set a timer right now and work for 25 minutes!

Another arena is my home. It frustrates me that I don’t have as much time as I used to to keep it clean and organized. My small step lately is just to do whatever it is I notice that bothers me most. (Dirty fridge? take five minutes for a min-cleanup NOW.)

Thanks for the lift.
Your words are spot on.
This week I started getting up an hour earlier to write.
I’d given myself a much needed break once my babe was born, but now he is sleeping well and, well, it was time for me to get back in gear. It feels great.

Hah, I can’t believe you asked if I’d started yet. I tried. I got out my pen and paper but got derailed. But, I guess if walking to the freezer for ice cream counts as a start to a marathon, then maybe walking to my car for pen/paper to write while kiddos skate can count, too. 😉 So, yes, maybe I did start! Thanks for asking.
Love your post!

Love it! I read this post in Feedly and couldn’t tell who the author was until I just clicked through. Now I know… I love your heart and encouragement Kat! Thanks for brightening my day. I’m going to go organize something that I’ve been putting off.

This couldn’t have come at a better time. With so much chaos going on in the house, it’s hard for me to gather up the energy and willingness to sit down and start writing and reading my towering pile of books.

Needed to read this today, thank you. I had not check my reader in a long time and I’m so glad I did and didn’t miss this.

Robin
on August 17, 2013 at 6:08 pm

Thank you. I am in the beginning of a serious life change and when I read your words that “someday starts today” I chewed on them for awhile. I took pause thinking that those simple words sound like clarity, but imply much more.
My anxiety has sped up my thinking to advance so much further than today, since all my actions have serious implications of my future and my three kids futures. This has seriously slowed my usual take action demeanor. This line brought me back to realize to get back to today and not leap forward so much that I cannot live in the here and now. My simple “do now” will be to try to re-shift my thinking and let life be lived as it will. Let go and just be.
Thank you again for the reminder that small is HUGE.

Nichole
on August 17, 2013 at 8:41 pm

I’m currently 2 1/2 weeks into my maternity leave with my second child. Over my three months of leave I want to make progress towards changing jobs and being able to spend more time with my children. One way I’m trying to do this is by starting my own (simple) design business I’ll launch through Etsy. It’s been hard to get started – I always feel like I need more direction or bigger plans before I can start. This post definitely helped me find that motivation. Tonight I’m going to work on a couple designs I’ve had in my head and then research costs of printing designs at home vs through a company while both our babies sleep.

I was just saying to my husband a couple of days ago, I am having it driven home to me over and over again lately, that if I don’t want to end up a rickety old lady in the not as distant as I’d like future (I turned 41 last year), I need to start exercising now. I’d really like a gym membership – I’m one of those people who would rather have a list of things to tick off in a gym than a more interesting outdoor adventure – but there is no way I am going to make time for the gym at the moment.

But what I can do is walk more. And stretch more. Even if it’s only 5-10 minutes at a time, it’s something I can do right now, this year. Today in fact. So that’s what I’m committing to. Today.

Right now I am going to get up from my desk and stretch my perennially tight calves.

I really like how you associate bravery with starting. One of the most difficult, yet simple processes when embarking on something life changing, is learning to get out of one’s way. A very brave thing to do indeed. Thanks for an inspiring post Kat 🙂

Hoy … it takes a long time to scroll down to leave a comment! Sometimes being the hero simply means standing up … offering our arms for a hug instead of walking away … and for me in my today, that is my definition of a hero. Thanks for this post on braveness!

Elizabeth
on August 23, 2013 at 10:56 am

God bless you to keep inspiring to action through writing. Today I’ll continue daily steps to unhoard my home as I pray for my husband to get to the painful root of why he hoards. I continue to pursue writing, although turtle steps. I continue to daily curb my over-reactions to firm and friendly parenting. I continue my workouts as they get more regular. And my baby steps to boldly articulate when I need to though imperfect. I continue little steps in courageously pursuing healthier friendships. I’ll give myself a tattoo with my blue ink pen to make it symbolic, snail mode though it may be.

Congetta
on August 23, 2013 at 1:46 pm

What do you say when the response is villain? Sometimes it could be a serious answer when he is grumpy, etc., and sometimes it is said tongue-in-cheek.

Emily
on August 23, 2013 at 9:25 pm

Love that your post leaves no excuses whatsoever! My excuse has been, it’s summer and we’re traveling, what CAN I start? Actually a lot! I’ll start hugging my eldest at least 3 times a day (rather than just 1-2) – it’s easy to forget when they get older! Also, I can work on my core muscles anytime anywhere even if I can’t do a full workout. I’ll start small, 5 minutes of core strengthening each day 🙂

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